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International Journal of Advanced Technology & Engineering Research (IJATER)

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DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION AND PERFORMANCE


EVALUATION OF RICE HUSK GASIFYING CHAMBER FOR
PADDY RICE PARBOILING
Gbabo Agidi1, J.T Liberty2 and J.C Eluwa1
Department of Agricultural and Bioresources Engineering,
Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State2
Department of Agricultural and Bioresources Engineering,
University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State2
Email: agidides@yahoo.com, libertyjacob@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
In an attempt to provide solution to the environmental
pollution resulting from indiscriminate dumping of by-product
of rice milling in Nigeria and to also provide an alternative
source of energy, a rice husk gasifier was designed,
constructed and tested. The machine comprises of a hopper,
burner, reactor cylinder, char chamber and fan housing. The
gasification of the machine was done by fan powered by
electric motor at speed of 450rpm through belt and pulley. The
husk is lighted with fire and air blown into the reactor through
the fan to the husk which was in a whole form; it was gasified
through air forced into it by the fan and the atmospheric air
from the secondary holes around the burner for proper
oxygenation. The performance of the machine was evaluated
after it was tested the result showed that the machine is 65%
efficient. The product from this machine could be used as a
raw material in cement and fertilizer processing industries.
The machine can be employed to reduce environmental
pollution by enhancing the process of burning of rice husk.
The efficiency of the reactor or gasifier could be increased, if
connected to continuous flow of rice husk source that will
enhance faster loading and eases the operator form the stress
of manual loading.
Keywords: Gasifier, reactor, rice husk secondary holes,
oxygenation

INTRODUCTION
Due to energy crisis and constant increase in the price of fossil
fuels, the worlds trend changes to renewable sources of
energy like solar, wind and biomass gasification (Mirani et al.,
2013). Rice husk is one of the biomass gasification materials.
The rice-husk has heat content of 15MJ/kg and it constitutes
30% of the rice production. There are two ways to get energy
from rice husk: by direct burning or combustion and by
indirect combustion with small amount of oxygen, called
biomass gasification. Direct combustion increases green house
gases and produced global warming effects whereas
gasification by indirect combustion is the thermo-chemical
process which changes biomass into useful and environmental
friendly energy. By-products

ISSN No: 2250-3536

of gasification are carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen (H2) and


methane (CH4). The gas produced during gasification is
known as producer gas or synthetic gas (Khan et al., 1998).
Substantial quantity of rice husk is available at each rice mill.
Rice husk energy cost is much lower, compared to the cost of
energy obtained from coal and mineral oils. Biomass has
approximately 50 to 66% heat energy content compared with
coal (Pathak and Singh, 1988). Biomass has a great potential
for conversion into heat and mechanical power. As a result of
rice husk gasification, some gases will be produced (CO2, O2,
H2, CH4, CO and N2). These gases may be utilised as fuel in
a boiler or in internal combustion engines. In future, biomass
gasification technology will prove the cost-effective
technology in the world (Pathak and Singh, 1988).
Mahar (2011) assessed different technologies for
converting agricultural biomass into energy and found
biomass, biomass pellets and gasification technologies as most
feasible, environmentally sound and economically viable. This
work was therefore aimed at the design, construction and
performance evaluation of a rice husk gasifying chamber for
paddy rice parboiling.

MATERIALS AND METHODS


Materials Selection: during the materials selections, materials
that met the design specifications obtained from calculations
to avoid failure of machine components were selected.
Relatively cheap materials when compared to other standard
materials were considered during selection. Some of the
parameters considered during the selection include: health,
materials and deteriorative properties, manufacturing
characteristics, cost, availability and aesthetics.
Design Calculations
Determination of mass of water required
100kg of paddy requires 13000kg of water (Wimberly, 1983).
From the statement above it can be interpolated to get the
mass of needed for both parboiling and soaking of 200kg of
rice.

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1000kg of paddy rice requires 1300kg of water

200 x
200kg of paddy rice requires

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heating value of 0.25 ton of rice husk is 15MJ/kg, then
converting tons to kilogram;

1300
260kg
1000

Therefore, if 200kg of paddy requires 260kg of water for


parboiling, addition of 50% excess water, 40% water for
parboiling of the paddy rice to be heated in other to produce
steam used for the parboiling, 10% water to be left in the
boiler after soaking and parboiling of the paddy rice.

0.25ton equals 0.25x100 = 250kg

250kg of rice gives 15MJ/kg of heat

15 x10 6
1x
0.06MJ / kg
250
1kg of rice husk will give
Therefore, 1kg of rice will generate 0.06MJ/kg of heat

50
x 260 130kg
Adding 50% Excess water 100

Determination of the amount of rice husk required to


generate the actual heat, 188697600J

Adding up the required amount of water and the excess

Since, 1kg of rice husk generates 0.06 x10

Total mass of water needed is 260 + 130 = 390kg

X kg of rice husk generates 188697600

260kg is the excess mass of water added to actual mass


Determination of heat required to heat 390kg of water
Using

QH M W CW DT Where

Xkg

1x188697600
3144.96kg
6 x10 4

3144.96kg of rice husk will generate the actual heat


required which was 188697600J

Q =? M = 390kg C = 4200J/kg/k DT = (T2 T1)


T1 = 4k (373) = initial temperature of water at room
temperature
T2 = 100k (277) = final temperature of water after heating

Determination of the volume of rice husk that can generate


the actual heat required for the gasification process
Bulk density of both compacted and non-compacted rice husk
ranges from 100 to 120kg/m3

Q 390 x4200 x(373 277)


390 x4200 x96 157248000 J

Mass of required rice husk = 3144.96kg

Adding 20% expected heat loss;

Volume

Density of rice husk = 100kg

20
x157248000 31449600 J
100

mass
3144.96

31.45m 3
density
100

Therefore, the volume of rice husk needed to generate the


quantity of required heat for parboiling the selected quantity of
rice was 31.45m3

31449600J was the expected heat loss


But, Actual heat required = expected heat loss + heat
generated

Determination of Shaft Diameter


The diameter of shaft was obtained thus;

= 31449600 + 157248000 = 188697600J

16
S a

kb M b 2 k t M t 2

Therefore Qmax = 188697600J

d3

Determination of quantity of rice husk to be burnt in order


to generate the amount of heat calculated above

Sa = 40MN/m2 for shaft with keyway kb = 2

For every ton of paddy processed, about 0.25 ton of husk is


generated as by-product (Baruah and Jain, 1998). Its heating
value is about 15MJ/kg which supports its application as an
energy source (Jain et al., 1997). From the statement above, if
1ton of paddy rice generates 0.25 ton of rice husk and the
ISSN No: 2250-3536

KtMt = 0 for a case of pure bending


Mb = Maximum bending moment = 12.91Nm

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16

d
6
x 40 x10

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d1=diameter of the motor pulley= 60mm= 0.06m

3
2 x12.91 0 14.87mm

x1500 x0.9

Design of Pulley and the Belt


This was done to know the equivalent ratio of between the size
of motor pulley and that of the shaft pulley.

N1d1 N 2 xd 2 (Khurmi and Gupta, 2005)

60

70.695
m/s

Determination of the speed of rotating shaft

D1 N1

D2 N 2 Where

Where N1 = speed of the motor pulley = 1500rpm

D1 = diameter of the pulley = 9cm = 900mm

N2 = speed of the shaft pulley = 500rpm

D2 = diameter of the shaft pulley = 26.1cm = 2610mm

d1 = diameter of the motor pulley = 900mm

N1 = speed of electric motor = 1500rpm

d2 = diameter of the shaft pulley =?

N2 = speed of rotating shaft =?

The average speed of blowers is 500rpm

900 1500

2610
N2

d2

N1 xd 1 1500 x900

2610mm 26.1cm
N2
500

N2

This showed that the ratio between the sizes of the shaft pulley
to the motor was 3:1

2610 x1500
4350m / s
900

Determination of power required

Determination of the total length of Belt


The length of belt needed to drive the motor pulley and shaft
pulley was determined by the expression below;

l 2c

TS

d1 d 2 d 2 d1

4c

P Where

(Khurmi and Gupta,

2N 2 x3.142 x1450

151.86
60
60

SB
S R Where

2005) Where,

TS = torque of shaft, SB = speed of belt

c = centre distance between motor and the shaft = 120mm

SR = speed of rotating shaft, N2 = 4350m/s

d1 = diameter of the motor pulley = 900mm

TS

d2 = diameter of the shaft pulley = 2610mm

2610 900
l 2 x120 900 2610

2
4 x120
l 240 1.571x3510 3.563 5750.7mm

Determination of the speed of the belt

xN 1 xd 1
60

(Khurmi and Gupta, 2005) where

N1 = speed of the motor pulley = 1500rpm


ISSN No: 2250-3536

70.695
0.016
4350

P 0.016x151.86 2.5kW

Description of the Machine


The machine consisted of the following components: Gasifier
Reactor, Char Chamber, Fan Assembly anf the Burner.
The Gasifier Reactor: is the component where rice husks
were placed and burnt with limited air. Its cylindrical in shape
with dimension 50 x 50cm, depending on the power output
required for the gasifier.
The height of cylinder varies from 60 to 80cm, depending on
the needed operating time. The cylinder was made of ordinary
gauge 16 milled steel on both the outside and inside. This was
provided with an annular space of 10cm, where the burnt rice

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or any other materials was placed to serve as insulator to
prevent heat loss in the reactor. At the lower end of the reactor
was a fuel grate made of iron rod used to hold the rice husks
during gasification. The grate was positioned to balance the
inner reactor.

Fig 3: Fan Assembly

Fig1: Reactor with the grate placed it with the loading funnel

Char Chamber: Serves as the storage for char produced after


operation. It was located beneath the reactor to easily catch the
char that was falling from the reactor. The chamber was
provided with a door that could be open for easy disposal of
char. It was always kept closed when operating the gasifier.
Four support legs were provided for the chamber to support
the reactor.

Burner: Converts gas that comes out from the reactor to a


bluish flame. It consists of series of holes where combustible
gas was allowed to pass through. The secondary holes located
at the periphery of the burner were used to supply the air
necessary for the combustion of gases. The burner was
removable for easy lightening of the rice husk and set in place
during the gasification process.

Fig 4: The burner showing heat outlet holes

Fig 2: The Char Chamber

Fan Assembly: Provides the air needed by the fuel during


gasification. It was fastened on the char chamber, either at the
door or at the char chamber itself, to directly push the air into
the column of rice husks in the reactor. Inside the fan
assembly was the fan blade held by a shaft to enable the blade
supply the air needed for gasification. The fan was being
rotated by an electric motor connected with the aid of a pulley
and belt from the electric motor to fan shaft for rotation of the
fan.

ISSN No: 2250-3536

Fig 5: Burner showing secondary holes for oxygenation to avoid


burning

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Substituting the values;

Q 10.5x26.23xT2 T1
Q 10.5x26.23x123 33876.045J

The temperature of the surrounding environment was


determined with thermometer and was observed to be 370C.
The gasifier was ignited with a piece of paper and allowed for
3 minutes for the fire to transfer from the paper to the rice
husk before the fan was switched on and the gasifier was
allowed to work for about 5minutes before the temperature of
the gasifier was determined to be 1600C, on further
gasification the temperature increased to 2000C and it was
observed to be constant. On further loading of the gasifier with
rice husk the temperature increased to 2700C. The temperature
was discovered to increase as the gasifier was loaded at
5minute interval. The temperature was read at the same time.
The experiment was repeated several times, at each time the
temperature was also measured.

Fig 6: All components of the Machine

Mode of Machine Operation

CONCLUSION AND

The rice husk was fed into the reactor through the funnel while
the stopper was opened with the burner removed and the grate
well positioned at the bottom of the inner reactor to prevent
the rice husk from falling into the char chamber. The burner
was removed and the husk lighted with aid of paper. The
burner was placed on top of the reactor, with the char chamber
closed and the fan switched on to blow in air into the char
chamber which was air tight and helps direct air to the reactor
containing the rice husk. The air provided by the fan and the
atmospheric air that enters into the reactor through the
secondary holes helps burn the husk.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION


The rice husk gasifier worked effectively. The quantity of heat
generated was determined with thermometer at different time
interval as shown below;
Time (minute)
5
10
15
20
25

This work which focused on the design, construction and


performance evaluation of a motorized rice husk gasifier is
cheap, affordable, easy to maintain and less laborious to use.
This gasifier will go a long way to make rice processing
attractive to rural processors, reduce deforestation and
environmental pollution. It will save cost of firewood, gas and
electricity that are other alternative source heat source for rice
parboiling. All components parts of the gasifier were
fabricated from mild steel. The fan was powered by diesel
engine which makes the machine easy for rural farmers to
operate. However, it is recommended that more spaces be
created around the burner for better oxygenation to aid faster
burning of the rice husk.

REFERENCES

Temperature (oC)
160
200
270
390
500

Ambient temperature was 37oC


Burning moisture content of rice husk = 14%db
Inside temperature of the reactor from the first temperature
reading;
Heat input Q = MCTdT where
Q = heat generated
M = hourly expenditure of husk = 10.5kg
C = specific heat capacity of rice husk = 26.23kJ/kg
(Emmmanuel, 1993)
dT = Inside wall temperature minus ambient temperature (T 2
T1 )
ISSN No: 2250-3536

RECOMMENDATION

[1]Asif A. Mirani, Munir Ahmad, Shabbir Ahmed


Kalwar
and Tanveer Ahmad. 2013. A Rice Husk Gasifier for Paddy
Drying. Sci., Tech. and Dev., 32 (2): 120-125, 2013
[2]Baruch, D.C and Jain, A.K.1998. Distribution of
agricultural residues in India. Journal of Agric. Engineering,
35(1):7-12
[3]Emmanuel, B.A. 1998. Development of waste in the wood
industries. Mech. Eng. Dept. Uniben.
[4]Jain, A.K., Sharma, S.K and Singh, D. 1997. Availability
and Characteristics of paddy rice husk as renewable energy
source. Journal of Agricultural Engineering 34(1): 10-14
[5]Khan, A.A., Rafiq-ur-Rehman and M. A. Farooq. 1998.
Prospects of adapting gasification technology in Pakistan.
Agricultural
Mechanization in Asia, Africa and Latin
America, 29(2): 21-28.

Volume 3, Issue 6, Nov. 2013

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International Journal of Advanced Technology & Engineering Research (IJATER)


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[6]Khurmi, R.S and Gupta, J.K .2005. Machine Design, 14th
edition. S. Chad and company
Ltd., Ram Nagar, New
Delhi, India
[7]Mahar, R.B. 2011. Report on assessment of
environmentally sound technologies (ESTs) for
Waste
Agricultural Biomass in District Sanghar, Pakistan, in
collaboration
with UET Jamshoro and UNEP
Osaka/Shiga, Japan.
[8]Pathak, B.S. and A. Singh. 1988. Husk utilization as fuel.
Agricultural Mechanization in Asia, Africa and
Latin
America, 19(3): 65-70.
[9]Wimberly, J.E. 1983. Technical Handbook for
Paddy.

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